Non-commercial art

Marvel Guardians - Star Lord fan art by tomafeizogas

When I thought of non-commercial art, I honestly struggled to think of any art that had no connections to not making money in some way. But then I remembered the vast amount of fan made artwork that is on the internet. This is just one example of a piece made simply to show off artistic skill and to grow ones portfolio. I enjoy it for its art style of heavy shading and the mostly monochrome color scheme (of my favorite color).

Boba Fett - No Disintegrations by DanLuVisiArt

This piece like my other example is a work of fan made art, and an honestly amazing looking one at that. When I first saw this piece I was convinced it was a picture of someone in a costume with effects added in afterwards, but that's just the kind of amazing detail that this picture is made in. It looks better every time I see it, and I think that constitutes a great piece of artwork.

Symbolic Colors

Art by Alex Ross for DC's Kingdom Come

If you knew nothing about any of the characters in these photos and I asked you "which were the heroes and which were the villains", what would you answer? Immediately you can tell due to the shade of lighting cast on both cast of characters. The heroes on top are basking in a warm golden light showing them in the public eye, being lit up as you monuments to societies most important figures. While on the bottom the villains are cast in a sickly green light to show how they hide from view and are more eschewed than our heroes, the green light also casts harsher shadows on them to show that they are more comfortable in a darker environment.



Still from "The Empire Strikes Back"

We all know what colors the lightsabers entail. The harsh red means that the wielder is an evil, violent, powerful sith villains. While those with the calmer blue are heroic, wise, and courageous jedi's. This is a color scheme that has become more prevalent in recent times, many think thanks to this very idea.

Color Discord

Infinity Gauntlet cover

One of, if not my favorite cover of all time. The sheer amount of colors on display here is something to behold. The different designs of the characters, the highlighting of the lines that break up the different quadrants, and the stones of the titular gauntlet themselves being the source of said lines really tie it all together quite nicely. It really shows the scale and creativity behind an event comic such as this.


High Lord Wolnir, Dark Souls 3 by GLV-DA (https://glv-da.deviantart.com/art/High-Lord-Wolnir-Dark-Souls-3-666777010)

This piece really works in displaying the scale and tone of the Dark Souls 3 boss. The blue energy coming from the right illuminating Wolnir works well to detail his image while keeping him still obscured by the dark, while the orange glow from the right from both the torch and his back collide with the blue to contrast each other well. It is a great piece of an imposing figure.

Creativity

Phantom City Creative Godzilla (2014) Poster

I love this poster. The colors reflect the fiery damage of Godzilla's rampage, the framing of Godzilla himself is large and imposing, and most importantly is the design. The idea of making Godzilla's shape out of smoke from the wreckage that he leaves in his wake is certainly not a new idea, but it is done so well here, both hiding his body and showing it in a different way. Its a fantastic image.


Still from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure OP 3 "Stand Proud"

The beauty in this image is the deeper meaning and references in the art. Like all of the Jojo openings from the recent adaptation, their strength is in their foreshadowing and retelling of past and future plot points of the arc's story and the series overall. Just in this image if you know the series, it has a timeline of the family at the center of the story, some major plot points/spoilers, and callbacks all the way back to the first arc of the story and then ties it into the plot of this arc of this current season. It is a tremendous work in storytelling and natural story progression.